Top heater and outlet grille assembly for wall heaters



Dec. 13, 1955 H. E. THOMPSON TOP HEATER AND OUTLET GRILLE ASSEMBLY FOR WALL HEATERS Filed Sept. 11, 1953 m T N E V m ATTORNEY United States Patent TOPHEATER AND OUTLET .GRILLE ASSEMBLY FOR WALL HEATERS Harry E. Thompson, Steubenville, Ohio, assignor to The Ohio Foundry & Manufacturing Company, Steubenville, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 11, 1953, Serial No. 379,501

1 Claim. (Cl. 126-116) This invention relates to space heaters of the type usually installed in a wall of a room.

Heaters of this type include a wall box which is fitted into a wall pocket through a wall opening and which contains the gas heating apparatus for heating the room, or rooms. Ordinarily, the wall opening in front of the wall box containing the heater is provided with a louvered front panel through which the heat escapes into the room. Products of combustion are conveyed to the open air through a flue leading from the heater in the wall box.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a grille outlet in addition to and above the usual front panel to permit additional heat for example, otherwise confined or trapped heat, adjacent the flue to escape into the room at a higher elevation than the louvered front panel, thereby venting otherwise trapped heat from the wall pocket as fully as possible to insure a relatively safe cool wall temperature. Accordingly, the present invention contemplates initially making the wall opening of a greater height than heretofore provided for accommodating the wall box and front panel and to cover the additional height of this opening by a top grille which is anchored in place to a header secured to the sides of a wall pocket.

A further object of the invention is to provide a top grille which may be readily and conveniently attached to the header in such a way as to firmly anchor it in place to cover the additional height of the wall opening, while at the same time covering the edges of the wall, and which also includes means for readily compensating for varying thickness of the plaster or other Wall covering at the time of installation.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the extended wall opening.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the header assembly.

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view illustrating the manner of attaching the top grille to the header plate assembly.

Figure 4 is a detail front elevation of the grille plate in its superimposed relation to the louvered front panel.

. Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

The wall designated generally as W includes the usual studding which is covered by plaster or its equivalent designated generally as P, and the space between the studs constitutes a wall pocket designated generally as 1 for receiving the wall box 2 which houses the heater.

The wall opening 0 in the area of the wall box is covered by the front panel F and the extension opening 0 above the header H and the front panel is covered by the top grille plate designated generally as 3. This plate is laterally coextensive with the width of the extension opening 0 and is of a vertical height sufilcient to have its lower portion 4 fit behind the channel member F which is a part of the front panel support, while its upper portion 5 overlies the wall surface above the opening 0.

2,726,654 Patented Dec. 13, 1955 The :grillenplate 3-.is provided with openings for receivingiih'eaded fastening screws6 whosethreaded s'hanksen- "gage in a *speed.clip"7 anchored in :the front 'fianges 8 of :a portion of .the header plate assembly, thereby tossecure :the grille plate in-position and to permit-heat from the heater flue and the wall box to readily enter into the room space.

Referring more particularly to the details of the header assembly, it will be seen that the same comprises a base plate 9 having its end flanges 10 turned outwardly and downwardly and provided with apertured outwardly offset spacer buttons 11 for receiving fastenings for securing the flanges 10 to the studs. These buttons serve to space the body of the downturned ends of flanges 10 from the studs to afford minimum contact between the metal header and the wood studs and provide suflicient air circulation to carry off heat radiated from the flanges. The base plate 9 is provided with a medial flue opening 12 and also with a back plate 13.

The base plate 9 carries end walls 14 including outwardly oflset flanges, the front flange 8 of which is apertured to receive the screw 6 and speed clip 7, previously described, and the rear flange 8a of which is secured to the back plate 13. The end walls 14 are also provided with bottom flange portions 15 which are secured to the base plate 9. Depending from base plate 9 and located on each side of flue opening 12 there is a pair of reinforcing plates 16 which give added strength to said base plate. It will thus be seen that the end walls 14 are secured by welding or otherwise to the base plate 9 and rear wall 13 and that the front flange 8 of each end wall constitutes the ground or anchoring means for fastening the top grille 3.

The flue opening 12 in the header assembly receives the standard vent carrying the fluid products from the heater and wall box to the atmosphere in the conventional manner.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the distinctive feature of the present invention is to provide a wall opening which is initially made of greater vertical height than the height of the wall box. After the wall box 2 and the heater as well as the front panel assembly F have been put in place, the top grille plate 3 is then inserted behind the channel F of the front panel and covers or masks the header H as well as the lateral distance of the wall opening, while the top portion 5 covers the edge of the wall facing. The screws 6 may then be inserted in the spaced opening provided in the top grille and the shanks thereof will enter the related speed clip 7 of the flanges 8 constituting a grille anchoring ground so that the mere act of turning the screw 6 will secure the grille plate 3 in position to cover the extended wall opening and permit additional heat rising from the wall box and heater to escape into the room. In that connection it may be pointed out that the screws 6 are not in any way connected to any part of the heater itself and air is free to circulate about the heater and escape from the wall pocket by the shortest route to relieve the wall of cumulative unsafe temperatures.

I claim:

In a room space heating system, a wall having spaced studs providing a vertically elongated front opening defining a wall pocket, a lining for the pocket forming a wall box for a heater, a louvered front panel positioned forwardly of said wall surface and concealing the wall box, said front panel being of less vertical height than said wall pocket to provide a heat escape area above the panel, means comprising a header assembly adjacent the top of the wall box and including a base plate having a flue opening, end flanges on the base plate, perforate buttons outwardly offset from said end flanges and receiving fas- 3 4 tenings connecting said flanges in spaced relation to a Q wall opening above the front panel to cool the wall seerelated stud, a back wall co-extensive in length with the tion by releasing heat at the top of the pocket. base plate and flanges, end walls each including side and bottom flanges, one set of side flanges connected to the References Cited in the file of this patent back wall and the bottom flanges connected to the base plate, and the other set of side flanges constituting grille UNITED STATES PATENTS anchoring means, and a louvered grille plate secured to 2, 84, 57 Marble Oct. 11, 1949 said anchoring means and covering the said area of the 2,602,441 Hollingsworth et a1 July 8, 1952 

